Can it be there is only one month left.

It is incredible to think about the fact that it is now nearing the end of February and well that means I have essentially only one month left here in Mundri. So the question is what to say and what to save until I get home and can tell you in person. There have been various lessons that I have learned over the last few weeks. One that I have been learning all along is how desperately I need God... in every way possible. For anyone who has talked to me at all over the last week or so they would have gotten a sense of my desperateness and borderline hopelessness... now I will argue for good reason, but I am much better now, mainly because we have one amazing, living God. When Jesus told the parable of a man finding a treasure in the field and selling everything to buy that field, I think maybe I am starting to get even the faintest idea of what he was talking about. The treasure that is God... hmmm. Anyways, that being said I still need your prayers for lots of things. First thing is that I don't go into countdown mode because I don't want to sell myself or the people of South Sudan short by already sending my brain home before my body. Secondly, just with work and computers and other various things please pray that God would continue to be present and make it clear if something is not meant to be a certain way, which way and which path I should walk down. Also, continue to pray for relationships as I have only one month left I want God to help me really push deeper into brotherhood with these young men all around from the young children I am teaching to sword fight to the older ones I am playing football with and evangelising too. I pray that while I am unaware of what it may be that my presence here will leave an impact that glorifies God. Those are the big ones... now for some stories.

Well, I made it to Yei to visit Ms. Kaethler and the YWAM team who are doing their outreach in South Sudan. This was an answer to prayer in many ways. I went originally to spend just one day and then head back. Instead I stayed for 3 days. Those people are amazing and dear to my heart. They have a great love for people and praying and reaching out with God's love. It was cool to see their faith put into action by going out into the streets and praying. They were also super welcoming to the stranger who more or less randomly wandered onto their compound there. I was loved to the utmost extreme and God clearly was working through them. It is kind of incredible to think how God orchestrates all of these things. Not only is he using this amazing group of passionate, God loving people to impact and create transformation in the community of Yei, but he is also doing work in their lives teaching them many things, but on top of that He had it ordained a long time ago that they would be there to be a light to be in a tangible way or welcoming me and loving me. On top of that I fit right in with the guys, both in relationship and looks. 2 of them were rocking some pretty awesome facial hair. Apparently the one guy Luke gets called Jesus everywhere he goes in town. I got to experience that slightly too. So I want to really just share my appreciation for the whole team from the leadership of George and Santos to the team leaders Lindsay and Esther, and to the whole team themselves (the task of not forgetting anyones name): Josh, Josh, Lucas, Philip (I don't think he was technically on the team), James (again not technically on the team), Victoria (of course my good ol NLCC sister), Tara, Liz, Melodie... Good golly I hope I didn't forget anyone. I also learned part of the challenge of bartering for a bride price. Apparently the ladies are worth a lot, something of 1000 cows plus land (don't worry Tara I wouldn't actually have sold you off). No wonder everyone always complains about the bride price here.

Now if anyone feels as if the last bit came off at all sexist let me try to redeem myself by saying this... Mundri would die without its amazing women. The other day I say discussing this with Paul, but this is after I tried to do some of the work that is traditionally left for the women to do. Now I have a BA in sociology, so clearly I am qualified but I will not write a long paper on gender roles and whatnot here. So women in Moruland essentially are put to work, from a young young age you will see maybe 4 year old girls carrying around their baby siblings on their back or on their hip. They also cook, clean, work the garden, basically I am not sure what the men do around here but occasionally hunt and dig... (ok a lot work hard too). That being said it has been 5 months here and I have never washed my own clothes (very grateful for that now). So I decided I was going to go to the river with one of my little brothers and wash my clothes. What terrible work. It took maybe 1 and half hours just to wash 15 pieces of clothing, I think I now have carpel tunnel syndrome and I got a sunburn. Never doing that again... and the ladies here seriously went up a notch in my books. Later that same day I had to fetch water from the nearby clinic for my bath. It is something of maybe 250 meters away from home, no big deal. But 20L of water is 20Kg if I remember my science correctly, and that gets heavy after a while. Sure enough here is a little 10 year old girl carrying the same size jerry can on her head and not breaking a sweat. I got seriously outmanned there. Most of the time people even have to go further than this for water. This women totally rock, and I don't know how people here would survive without them. That all being said, not always super crazy about the fact that women do all this work without the men ever really helping. This is why I take a stand and clean my own house... look at me go.

Ok... I am done for now.

Love you all tons, miss you all too, but don't fear before you know it I will be back with you wanting to return to South Sudan.

Have I told you lately... that it is stinking hot!

What is the first thing that you think of when you think of heat and warmth and everything hot. Some might think Mexico or warm tropical beaches. I however think fire, as one of my friends here James Tata says "I am hot like fire". Speaking of fire for a reason, the other day I got to take part in a fire fighting escapade of sorts. A common occurrence during the dry season in Mundri is the widespread burning of dry grass and fields for the purpose of clearing. I really do not think thought is always put into this burning, as I have heard of many stories of lost crops and trees as a result of someones fire being picked up by the wind and taken the wrong direction. Most recently, I was working up at the ECS Diocese Building checking emails when out I come to see a massive cloud of smoke. I head over closer to see the entire bush that was there the hour before I tucked into the office reduced to burnt ash. Pretty mind blowing, especially since I was not far away and didn't notice it. As I continued to explore, I discovered the fire was heading towards the Bishop's goat's Tukuls and to prevent this the World Harvest team spread the fire the other direction. Apparently missing out on most of the fun, I jumped right in trying to break up one big pile of burning that was still close and potentially threatening to spread the fire further. Man it was hot. I have even more respect now for firefighters, especially those who fight forest fires which as far as I can tell after this experience are super unpredictable and crazy. Mad respect to all of those who put their life at risk to protect others from fire! Although I didn't do much I think I might throw part time firefighter on my resume now.

Continuing the theme of heat, I have now come to Juba for a short period of time: to do some work and whatnot. It is even hotter here than in Mundri I think. I am super glad the power in the house I am staying has held out and provided me with a fan every night. My journey here this time, was on my own with the director of SEM and most of the time here I have been wandering the streets a lone wolf. Pretty fun actually, and I feel somewhat productive, at least adventurous. Once again though I am blown away by the hospitality of people here. The first day I was heading into Juba town I took a long walk to find a bus (I walked the same route as the buses they were just all full). When I finally got on one, a super nice gentlemen struck up conversation with me. His name was Simon, and before the end of the ride he paid for my bus trip, in his words to welcome me to South Sudan. Ok, it was only 1 SSP, but I was really moved by this gesture. I mean, when has it ever crossed my mind to pay for the ride of a stranger on the bus that I just met (I could blame it on the fact we pay before we sit down, but you get my point).

I hope I was able to slightly return the favour today as when I was out and about I sat down with three young brothers (Monday 10, Sebit 8, and Wahid 6) and drank sodas with them. Not much again, but maybe through that little act of love to them God can do something cool. It apparently made an impact on someone else as I think I caught one man taking a picture of us with his phone.

Finally, here is an update on the work. We are slowly moving towards raising the office. We now have our red stone and sand. We also have our engineer/contractor, also good news. In no time we will have one beautiful office to call home. Also, for those who have supported the football league in prayer and financially. I have purchase 10 footballs, which will help push things forward. The next step is uniforms, which might be a bit trickier with price, but I think we can make do. There is a package that for some reason has still not come through that will help with this project. Please pray that it would come through!!

I always say finally, then add one more thing... this time 2. First off, chocolate is a great idea for a gift and I definitely wish I could receive some. But do you remember how I said it is hot here. The chocolate I most recently received was a pool. Still loved trying to lap it up though. Now finally, I am off to Yei tomorrow to visit Victoria Kaethler who is here with YWAM (I know who knew they had a base here). I look forward to seeing a familiar face. Please pray for safe travels.

Love you all, and I will be seeing most of you sooner rather than later.

Ps. Happy Birthday tomorrow sister of mine!

The Pride of Sugar Cane

Man, this blog title sounds like a great sequel to Lord of the Flies or something. Unfortunately I am not quite in the mood for writing a book about anarchy and the true nature of humans. That being said I have never read Lord of the Flies, so not entirely sure what it is all about (I have seen parts of the movie). No in fact, the title is the extent of my creativity.

Recently, there has been a very common phenomenon which cannot be good for my teeth. Since these days it is getting ridiculously hot drinking tea together seems to less and less the norm. I Still drink far more than my fair share of cups a day though. The newest community bonding experience that I have had the privilege of experiencing is the sugar cane. For 1 pound you buy a stalk and split into pieces. Then you start gnawing on it as if humans have teeth like beavers. Everyone around here seems a pro and rip off the outer shell to reveal the inner juicy, fibery goodness. Me on the other hand am still trying to get the hard shell off when everyone else is finishing of the entire treat. Mostly people mock my lack of ability and give me a knife. Now some of you know a history of me and sharp objects, but generally we don’t make a good match. As a result my hands show some my attempts to eat sugar cane. In fact my body as a whole these days seems to be a walking scab collector. All over my legs and arms and hands are small little nicks and scrapes. Not a problem, minus the ease of infection around here. Good thing I got my Life Brand disinfectant. It seems a common comment that my body is becoming African. Not sure if my body is becoming African or if my body is just being spread about the African bush bit by bit.

One nice thing to know about life though is that I can make a fool of myself on a regular basis no matter where I am. Next week 3 of the remaining 4 grades still in school start their final exams, so I have been going around helping Primary 8 students with their science review. For the unit on uses of water, I had the brilliant idea of doing charades/Pictionary with the students to help them have fun while reviewing. Unfortunately I really underestimate these students lack of willingness to volunteer. These students are definitely the most passive learners I have ever seen (not surprising when you see some of their results). Anyways, since no one wanted to participate I ended up acting out the entire list, starting with a cow drinking water. After acting like a fish, washing my clothes, bathing (all with my clothes still on), water skiing (major failed attempt), and a bunch of others the kids at least participated by guessing at my stupidity. Oh well, what fun is life without laughing at yourself.

Which brings me to the pride aspect of this update. I have discovered I am ridiculously proud, and not really in the usual way. I have fallen into the trap as written by a few authors of religious pride. I do not have a very long attention span and when things are not super engaging for me I often get frustrated at them thinking I can do better. Well, apparently this is my struggle with church here. Whether English or Moru service, by the end I am usually tired and frustrated and I fall into the trap of thinking why do it this way, and why is this here, and etc. All stemming from a thought that I got it all figured out. First off, boy oh boy I do not. Secondly, Jesus has been incredibly gracious to invite me into relationship with Himself; therefore, anything I think I know is gift from Him and is worked out in the process of relationship with Him and others. I feel as if that is not at all articulate, and I don’t really feel like figuring out another way of saying it. However, the lesson and process I am going through right now is just a situation of humility where I have to lay down my preconceived notions of being right, or of knowing better. There is nothing of my relationship with Jesus that makes me any better than anyone else, and everyone just needs to hear the words from their Saviour that they are loved and worthwhile, and can only come to know this through restored relationship with Him made possible through His sacrifice.

OK, preaching done.

Love you all. In 2 months I will be home!

Please pray for the football evangelism league I am trying to start (pray for supplies to come through).

Also pray for other projects (building of office, refurnishing classrooms at a school).

Pray for the bible study here that it would gain some momentum that it would continue after I leave.

Pray against pride for me.

Pray that I can trust and rest in God.

Pray for adventure!!

** I have lost my camera... please pray it either grows legs and comes back to me, or that I get another one cheaply.